Circean Cynosure
by JazzylovesTransformers
Summary: Life becomes a bit hectic on the Nemesis when their three most high-ranking officials become afflicted with a "virus." A virus that three other Autobot femmes will be less than pleased to learn about... the hard way. Megatron/OC, Soundwave/OC, Starscream/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is, my first Prime fanfic... asides from the ones I've been sort-of helping with. But I don't think they qualify... they weren't my ideas, afterall.**

**Summary said it all, but just in case you forgot in that short time: basically, I'm being a bitch to the mechs, and making them go into a kind-of heat instead of the women for once. Which kinda seems weird, considering on our planet it's always the other way around. But they're aliens, aren't they? Since when have they ever abided by our laws of nature? ****Anyway, so as far as my little mind's concerned (for this fanfic, at least), both mechs and femmes can go into heat at any given time. It increases the chance of a sparkling being produced, obviously, but also can have minor alterations on the affected mech/femme's judgement.**

**This is a Megatron/OC, Starscream/OC, Soundwave/OC and Knock Out/OC fic.**

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><p>There was something strange happening on the <em>Nemesis <em>that day.

For starters, it wasn't very often that you found the normally laid back Knock Out pacing around his Med. Bay, looking increasingly agitated and clearly waiting for somebody (or somebodies) to arrive. It was even more rare to have Soundwave in that same Med. Bay, who seemed to be watching the medic's nervous and slightly annoying movements, judging by the way his helm was tilted. What appeared to be some kind of results were displayed on the main control screen, and every so often the red mech would cast an apprehensive look at them, as if hoping he'd find something within it that would ease his tensions. If there was anything there to calm him, he hadn't found it yet.

Seconds ticked on into minutes. There was nothing filling the air besides from the sound of Knock Out's footsteps and the tense silence between the two mechs. Personally, Soundwave had always kind of creeped out the medic. He and Breakdown were not used to the eerie officer, unlike the rest of the soldiers on the _Nemesis. _What did you say to somebody who, more than likely, wasn't going to respond? Or even worse, what if Soundwave played back a recording, and Knock Out had no idea what he was implying? It wouldn't make him look good. Nobody wanted a medic with only half a processor.

Eventually, the doors slid open, and a disgruntled Starscream stalked into the room.

"What is it this time, Knock Out?" he snapped, stopping a couple of metres away from said mech, folding his arms over his chestplate. "I don't enjoy being _literally_ dragged out of my berth in the middle of the night; particularly not by that overgrown brute you call an apprentice."

"Perhaps you should learn how to answer your comm., Starscream," Knock Out shot back, pausing in his pacing to give the Second-in-Command a look.

Starscream opened his mouth to make a witty retort, but Soundwave effectively beat him, stopping anything before it could begin.

_"What is it this time, Knock Out?" _

Starscream not-so-discreetly made a face at hearing his voice emanating from the Intel. Officer, but was wise enough not to comment. Soundwave got him into enough trouble already, he wasn't looking to permenantely piss him off and earn himself a permenant spot in the Med. Bay via their beloved warlord. Megatron suited being a vegetable. The ever-so-brilliant Starscream? Not so much.

"We're still waiting for Megatron," he admitted, casting a sidelong glance at the door, as if the mech himself might stride through at any minute.

"Did Breakdown have the guts to yank him out of his berth, too?" Starscream asked sarcastically, glaring at Knock Out, lips pursed to the side in annoyance and hands on his hips.

Knock Out had enough of a processor to know that replying to Starscream might not be the brightest of ideas.

It took a while, but in the end Megatron did make his appearance, though looking no more pleased at the rude awakening than Starscream did. However, unlike his loud-mouthed and overdramatic Seeker, he did not immediately bite his head off for it. Instead he came to stand close to the mentioned flier's right (who unintentionally flinched away on instinct), red optics raking over the Med. Bay for any hint as to why he was there, before settling on the vain medic.

"This had better be good."

Taking this as his cue, Knock Out bowed to his leader, and turned his attention to the screen.

"Ah, you may not like this..."

There was something strange happening on the _Nemesis _that day. The halls were empty, the Decepticon foot soldiers were working with next to no supervision, and their commanders were nowhere in sight_. _Soundwave was a given; he was rarely noticed anyway. However, it was unheard of for Megatron to lock himself in the main control room and forbid anyone to enter, or for Starscream to refuse to leave his quarters for anything. Only Knock Out seemed somewhat obliged to wander around the ship some, but even then he appeared to much prefer the safety of his Med. Bay. The Vehicons weren't exactly comfortable with the out-of-character happenings, but knew better than to stop and gossip about it. The majority of the higher-rankers may be MIA, but Soundwave might still be listening in.

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><p>The sleek car cruised along the abandoned desert road, leaving a slight trail of dust behind it. It was a still and almost perfect night, with no breeze stirring the earth and the temperature actually being rather reasonable for once. Music played in the interior of the vehicle, constantly switching channels as different songs came on, and almost seeming as if it were keeping the lone machine company.<p>

It was a quiet and routine scout around the area at this time of night; nothing was out of place as usual. In fact, it could almost be considered a waste of Energon. The Decepticons probably wouldn't be able to find their base if they drew a map and threw it in their faceplate, but you could never be too careful. Careful, like the speed that the car was moving at. Unfamiliarity with Earth's customs and laws had led to it being somewhat-overly cautious when it came to driving, not wanting to suffer through another lecture from Optimus Prime on how they should keep a low profile. Plus, it was also due to a genuine respect and consideration for the little fleshy beings that run amuck on this planet. It was _theirs _afterall. They may be bigger, better and stronger, but it wasn't entirely their fault that their war had left the Transformers' home planet and ended up on theirs.

**_"You alright out there, Aurora?" _**Came a voice through her comm. link, startling her out of her thoughts.

The femme would've jumped in surprise, if the voice wasn't so familiar and she wasn't in her vehicle mode. Instead, she chuckled softly at herself, and opened up her comm. link. She probably should've seen this coming. They'd only landed on Earth a mere few days ago, and already her mentor had slipped back into old habits; ones that dated way back to the peak of the war on Cybertron. It was most likely a good thing that she wasn't easily wound up by people trying to smother her or check up on how she was doing every five minutes. If she had been, there was no doubt she would've gone insane quite some time ago.

**_"As right as I'll ever be. Honestly, Ratch'. At the rate you go on, you'd think that I was completely irresonsible."_**

Her words were only teasing, but there was some slight truth to them, as well. Ratchet had not only set up a mentor-apprentice relationship with her, but also what resembled a father-daughter one. His somewhat protective stance with her was amusing, particularly when there was nothing to be protective about. And there were times, times like these, when his worry was completely unnecessary. Other Autobots did this patrol all the time, and not once did they ever encounter a Decepticon. Pit, on their ship, they could probably be halfway around the world and well out of the way of the Autobot base.

**_"Well, maybe I worry about my apprentice."_**

**_"Maybe your apprentice doesn't need worrying about?"_**

**_"Maybe. But she has yet to complain, so I think I'm safe."_**

Aurora chuckled again at that, slowing down her already-casual speed to hang a right down a dirt track. Thank Primus. Her patrol wouldn't last too much longer before she could return to the base, and back the sanctity of her cosy berth. What she wouldn't do for some much-needed recharge right now. It was just unfortunate that the day she had been working hard, was the same day when it was her turn to do a late night scout.

**_"There's nothing out here except dirt, rocks, and little ol' me. Your concern is really not necessary. Besides, that's what comm.'s are for, no? If anything goes wrong, I'll be sure to tell you."_**

**_"You better."_**

That was probably as close to a concerned "Be Careful" as she was ever going to get. Ratchet never was a mech who settled for all that mushy stuff, or wore his heart on his sleeve. It really wasn't as bad as it sounded- an eternity of having to put up with the mech had honed her processor well. She'd learned to look past the grunts and grumbles, and identify them for what they really were. Indeed, she was well trained in the ancient and almost extinct language of Ratchet... well, most of the time, anyway. He was hardly an open book.

Ending the link, the femme continued on her way, going back to daydreaming about the comfort of her berth and a well-needed rest. Her _new_ berth, mind you. They'd hidden their ship away from the Decepticons, and were currently attempting to keep it off the radar so that neither the humans or Decepticons learnt of it. If the looks on the others' faces at the thought of handing one of their own spacecraft's over to human intelligence were anything to go by, then they didn't want technology of that kind being in the possession of human's. _Especially _not Skylight. Aurora had seen the less-than-impressed look on her faceplate when she'd first encountered that Fowler guy. They were just lucky Bluespark had shoved their femme friend out of the room fast enough, before Skylight verbally bit his head off.

She probably should've known better than to get excited over finally getting some rest, though.

It came in the form of a strange glint in the sky, followed by a sudden flare on her internal energy reading chart that alerted her to Decepticon signatures; installed by Ratchet himself. It was there for but a brief few moments- long enough for her to get a fix on it's co-ordinates, yet not long enough for her to figure out what direction it was heading in or at what speed. Even some kind of hint as to who she was facing- she didn't want to run straight into the arms of Megatron himself, afterall- was not a luxury she could entertain. Following her previous advice to herself that it was better to be safe than sorry, she attempted to open up a comm. link with Ratchet again, to alert him of the situation and to be ready to call in any back-up if necessary.

Unfortunately, her comm. was scrambled.

That in itself should've been some kind of warning that something was up. Her comm. shouldn't have been scrambled... not in a place like this. There was nothing to interere with her frequency, and none of the others had ever reported similar events ever happening to them. Granted, they were soldiers and she a medic-in-training, and they probably didn't need to call in support for a fight, but surely somebody would've noticed by now? The only thing that convinced her to investigate the energy signature slip-up alone was that no high-ranking and intelligent Decepticon soldier would ever make such a basic mistake... right? The probability that Megatron of all mechs would do it was pretty much next to none, so at least that was one less thing to worry about.

She didn't realise she'd slowed down to a stop, until she found she needed to start up her engine again just to make the turn towards the energy signature. She couldn't just finish her patrol, without searching after a Decepticon energy signature she found. It defeated the whole purpose. And if it was secretely following her, and she unintentionally lead it back to their base? Even worse- she'd never be able to forgive herself. Meaning that the only way onwards, was forwards.

_I'm probably going to regret this, _she couldn't help but point out to herself, sighing as she altered her course off the dirt road she'd been on, and into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Soundwave was not a particularly emotional mech.<p>

He wasn't a very open one either, so when Knock Out had requested that he and his two commanders to meet him in the Med. Bay for a check-up, he wasn't what one would call "willing." As far as he was concerned, his wellbeing was his own worry, and it was no business of some self-proclaimed medic. He could care for himself, and had no need of a systems scan simply due to the strange behaviour they had been displaying as of late... But, Megatron would have expected him to be there, and the spy was not someone who missed or was late for an appointment (nor, most importantly, someone who disappointed his leader). Not to mention, he _had_ been hoping to get rid of whatever malfunction had entered his systems. It wasn't beneficial to the Decepticon cause for Soundwave to be so unexplainably unfoccussed.

He was regretting obeying the medic, now. Not only had he been utterly embarrassed and disgusted to think that such a thing was occuring, especially at a time such as this, but he'd been less-than-pleased that the dark red mech had no way of solving their dilemna... All he'd received was advice. Advice not to go out alone. Advice to stay away from any femmes (or any mechs that resembled femmes, which caused Soundwave to speculate as to what kind of personal experience Knock Out had had in these kind of situations). Advice to resist any urges or compulsions to leave the safety of the ship for an "innocent" fly and/or drive around the area.

Obviously Knock Out wasn't doing his job properly, because mere moments later Soundwave found himself outside and scouting for... something. For what it was exactly, he refused to acknowledge, refused to _believe_ that he would succumb to such disturbing desires. In fact, he'd specifically chosen one of the most out-of-the-way places where he was least likely to stumble across an Autobot, let alone an Autobot femme. Hopefully the late hour lowered his chances even more drastically...

Apparently not.

His already silent engines slowed his pace as he attempted to get a better look at his object of interest; a lone car driving offroad, headlights switched on and moving at a seemingly casual pace... at least 20km/h underneath the speed limit. That certainly wasn't the normal organic behaviour around these parts of the world. But, zooming in on the car, it also did not register as a familiar Autobot Alt. Mode. The only one even close to comparison would be a cross between that rarely-seen medical 'bot Ratchet, and that chirping sports car that went by the designation Bumblebee. So was it, or was it not, Cybertronian in nature?

There was only one way to find out.

Soundwave banked to his right towards a crevasse, purposely catching the light and dropping the shields that disguised his energy signature for a brief moment, just to see what the reaction was. Judging by the way the car immediately began to slow down, it was at least familiar with the Cybertronian race, if not one itself. He sent out an encoded signal to scramble in attempts at communication or calls for help just in case, defences already back in place in case it could get either a permenant or temporary fix on him. The last thing he wanted to do was lead an unintended guess back to the Decepticon base.

If he was in the right state of mind, he might've discarded the foreign feeling of satisfaction at the thought of the vehicle being from his home planet, or perhaps he would've even done the right thing: fire on the Autobot. Or civilian. Did it really matter? If it was a human insect, then they were no friend of the Decepticons if they were capable of picking up Cybertronian energy signatures. And an Autobot? Even better. The less the Autobots were in numbers, the better.

_Oppurtunity, _he thought, transforming and landing in the crevasse.

An oppurtunity indeed. For more than one thing. Surely no self-respecting Autobot mech would have an Alt. Mode that would look so feminine?

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><p><strong>I think I'll keep my opinion on this chapter to myself. Let's just say, hopefully we'll be seeing better when exams are finally over, and that I'm rather content to believe it doesn't exist at the moment.<strong>

**Which leads me to add, following chapters will not be posted until another 6 weeks at the least; 7 December. My country is going into exams, and things are getting stressful. I start next week. As much as I would love to continue with this, I really need to be foccussed, and this is all part of my procrastination plan. So I must resist. If you see another chapter up too soon, feel free to scold me and tell me I'm a horrible person.**


	2. Chapter 2

**RETURNED. Not as long of a wait as you thought, huh? Thanks for any/all reviews. One day, in the near future, this will be bumped up to an "M."**

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><p>This really <em>was <em>a bad idea.

Aurora cautiously advanced further into the crevasse, weapons drawn and optics scanning over her surroundings uneasily... namely the walls that seemed to loom so high above her. She should've called for back up. She should've gone somewhere that her comm. link worked, notified Ratchet of the situation, and brought the other Autobots back here to investigate it. Because this place was, simply put, giving her the creeps. It seemed there was no way she could shake the feeling that she was being watched. An enemy could probably pop into existence and fire on her from above with ease, and all it took was a lucky or well-aimed shot to injure or paralyse her, effectively sealing her fate. But she'd only just arrived on Earth! She didn't want to die _now._

"You're not going to die," she assured herself out loud, and even though the words were spoken in a soft tone, they still seemed to echo eerily around throughout the crevasse. "Nope. The Decepticon is long gone. Pit, why don't you just return to base and Ratchet? In fact, this whole thing was probably just in your imagination... a trick of the light... c'mon, Aurora. What are you? Four?"

_You are if you're still talking to yourself_, some internal voice of hers had to point out.

_Shut it you._

The sound of small, falling rocks from somewhere behind her caused the femme to whirl around in surprise, cannon charging and ready to fire. Her spark was pulsing wildly in it's chamber, and vaguely she recalled how a human would normally remark that it was like "something out of a horror movie." Embarrassingly enough, though, there was nothing there, and she figured it was most likely just due to her moving through the little-used space. Transformers were a lot heavier than humans, she supposed... what with their heavier footsteps and all, she could've just accidentally disturbed the earth... right?

_At least no one was there to see that._

Grimacing at her own paranoia, she slowly turned away, but continued to glance over her shoulder suspiciously every few seconds ago. What if something attacked her from behind when she wasn't looking, catching her unawares? What if they were prowling after her, and were just waiting until they could get close enough to go in for the kill? Despite her suspicions, however, and no matter how hard she checked each time, she found nothing hidden in the shadows. So why was she so instinctively convinced that something was spying on her?

"Alright, alright, alright," she murmured to herself in an effort to calm her raging spark, letting out a shaky breath to try and get a hold of herself. "Cool it, will ya? Let's just get this over with."

She pushed herself further onwards, assuring any feelings of doubts with words of comfort that mainly consisted of "this will be over soon." No more startling noises were heard, and as the time ebbed on she began to become more confident that she was alone, and less afraid of an abrupt ambush. I mean, come on. If a Decepticon were there, they would've attacked her by now. It wasn't like she was the scariest or most intimidating femme in existence. Even those blasted twins Lunar and Eclipse would be considered more of a threat than Ratchet's little ol' apprentice.

Eventually, she stopped, letting out a tired sigh and deciding she'd gone far enough. If there were any Decepticons around- Pit, if there'd even been a Decepticon in the first place- then they were long gone, and didn't seem to be any threat to her or the Autobots. Pity her comm. link still wasn't working, though. If it were, she might have been more convinced of her conclusion. But who knew? It could just be a genuine malfunction. Maybe she'd get Ratchet to check up on it when she returned to base. Beginning to turn around and head back the way she came, the only thing that ended up stopping her was the feeling of something crawling up her leg.

Or, more acurately, sliding.

It started at her ankle, a long, _glowing _purple-and-black appendage that had easily wound it's way up her leg, reaching past her knee and still going. There was a moment of stunned silence as this new information began to register in her processor; the fact that something foreign yet threatening was touching her, yet not causing any kind of intentional pain. The fact that something had been able to maneuver it's way up her leg in such a short amount of time. The fact that something... or someone... must be standing _behind_ her, where she could be most vulnerable. And then everything seemed to hit her like a ton of bricks.

There was a tentacle. On her leg. Moving it's way upwards fast. And it sure as Pit wasn't organic in origin.

Being the sensible femme she was, Aurora did the first suitable thing that came to mind: she let out an undignified scream of alarm, leaping backwards and spinning around to face her would-be attacker at the same time... which kind of made to be a rather messy and unco-ordinated move on her part. The tentacle released her easily, and as she righted herself from her stumbling mess she saw it withdraw into a form that was by far too close for comfort, and also very hard to make out in the dim lighting. All she could gather was that he was taller than her, and was probably darkly coloured...

And he was no friend of hers.

A tense silence followed; her waiting for him to make some kind of move, and he more-than-likely sizing her up (or so she believed, she couldn't seem to make out his faceplate for some reason). She wasn't sure why he'd even bother. Her femme-like squeal before was probably enough of a hint as to what kind of opponent she was, and what her abilities were like in battle. Slag it. So much for taking Ratchet's advice of doing her best to intimidate enemies, so that they weren't as encouraged to target her. She could see her name circled in red now on the Decepticon's Hit list, with "**SQUEALS LIKE A LITTLE GIRL- IS ENCOURAGED TO ATTACK HER IF YOU'D LIKE EXTRA BROWNIE POINTS. LOVE MEGATRON xx" **printed in bold letters beside it.

The seconds stretched into minutes, and Aurora wondered if he was doing the same as her: waiting for the other to make the first move. He continued to stand there impassively, watching her (for all she knew) in what she imagined to be an unblinking and expressionless gaze. The image she got from that thought sent tingles down her backstruts, and she did her best to supress her shiver. This was getting her nowhere. It looked like she was going to have to be the first to react, if she wanted to have some hope of getting out of here.

Cautiously, as if testing the water, she shifted a single pede in an attempt to back away from the mech.

Much to her surprise, he remained where he was, completely still and unmoving. Part of her wondered if this guy was even still alive, or if perhaps he was even a simple figment of her imagination. Surely not. What about the tentacle? That had been real enough... she could still feel the thing wrapping around and slowly circling upwards, higher and higher... she hated to imagine where it would've ended up, should she have failed to notice it. Her lack of Decepticon interaction for quite a few years may have left her combat skills unchecked, but she still had common sense.

But common sense said one thing to her right now: you either run, or you find out if you're just being stupid, and this thing isn't actually sentient.

"What do you want?" she demanded, the words meant to come out strong and confident, but sounding tainted by fear according to her audio receptors.

There was no reply.

Curious, her azure optics narrowed, considering her options. Was he just ignoring her? Or was there honestly nothing there, and she was just being way too paranoid for her own good? The second option couldn't been the plausible, but he just lacked so much movement... she couldn't even detect a glint of red that would signal the presence of scarlet optics. A trick of the light... again... perhaps. That could explain it, no? Maybe she'd even caught a virus on her travels, and was currently experiencing the mental effects that were causing her to hallucinate. Pit, her comm. link might not even be scrambled! It was a strangely comforting thought...

One way to find out.

She summoned up the last shreds of her confidence, steeling herself, before taking a confident step forward...

...and he moved.

Quickly, too, might she add. One second she was moving towards him, and the next her back was grinding into the hard wall of the crevasse, bending doorwings and denting newly-polished armour. His hands gripped her shoulders in a bone-crushing grasp, holding her well off the ground with the tips of his long, spider-like digits digging into the seams of her armour and painfully pricking the bundles of cords and wires hidden beneath. She scrabbled against the prison-like wall uselessly as the hot frame pushed up against her own, feeling as if it were scorching her cooler one. Tentacles wound around her ankles another time, harder than before, pinning them down and preventing her from kicking her assailant.

_Um... yes. I think he _is _sentient._

Aurora's revelation did little to assist her in her struggles against the bonds, her attempts quick to prove useless, as his hold remained unrelenting and firm. Her optics made the mistake of darting back to his faceplate, as if she could (on the off-chance) find some weakness within them, but she was only met by the reflection of her own somewhat terrified faceplate. Her spark immediately dropped into her fuel tanks, and she could only watch her reflection hopelessly as the terrified look merged with an underlying look of shock and horror, shown back to her rather mockingly in that blank screen that made up this mech's "faceplate." No wonder she'd been unable to see the glow of his optics beforehand.

Soundwave. _Soundwave. _She was sure it was him! Of all the mechs that could track her down at a time like this. Primus help her, there was no way she was going to get out of this alive. She should've seen this one coming the moment her comm. was scrambled! That was no convenient frequency interference.

_Oh Primus slag it. Didn't we have a talk about keeping emotionless in desperate situations that involve Decepticons?_

Her bids for freedom continued, but this time she raised a hand that had transformed into a weapon previously, prepared to fire at the unsettlingly familiar 'Con. This was quick to be thwarted as well; she didn't get a chance to open fire before more tentacles burst forth, restraining her by the wrists and slamming them above her with an unneccessary amount of force. A hiss that was a cross between angry and pained escaped her vocaliser, struggling violently against his hold.

_"You're not going to die..." _Her Energon ran cold when she heard her voice playing back to her, quiet and full of the nervousness she'd been experiencing when she'd said it. Rather than calm her, however, the words merely encouraged her to continue her thrashing with twice the amount of force. She was eventually stilled, but only when the mech pushed his body up against her smaller frame, him feeling unusually hot to the femme. _"Cool it, will ya?"_

_"_Look who's talking," she spat out, fixing the faceless mech with a fiery glare.

He didn't reply this time. With a contemptous snort, Aurora continued her failing attempts at freedom, though in her position she could do little more than squirm against the darkly coloured mech. A couple of tries to comm. Ratchet confirmed that Soundwave was still jamming her comm. link, causing the femme to scowl. There was simply no way she was making it out alive of this one; Soundwave's words had been mocking, she was sure of it. And as frightened as she was of her impending deactivation, Aurora would not simply cower and take it. No way would she let some 'Con scum murder her in such a disgraceful way. Rather, she'd prefer to be defiant. She was screwed anyway. What logical difference did it make?

Well, her struggling didn't seem to be making much of a difference either, now that she thought about it. Furious and frustration gradually growing- she could recognise a lost cause when she saw one- Aurora ceased her attempts and began spitting out the meaningless insults.

"Tell me," she growled, glaring at the sheet of black ice that hid her attacker's faceplate, and hoping to provoke a reaction from the mech, "are all 'Cons as cowardly as you, or does Mega-aft just reserve that kind of behaviour for his best bitches?"

Nothing. Not even a twitch from him. Scowling at the lack of response, Aurora shifted in his grasp to relieve some of the building stress on her joints, and also using it as an excuse to think up something else that would get her some kind of acknowledgement. What was this guy's problem? She'd heard stories of Soundwave (Primus, you'd have to have being living in a hole not to have), but she would never have thought to take them so... literally. Why was it so hard to frag him off? The sooner he got pissed, the sooner he'd either kill her or make a mistake for her to take advantage of... both much more preferable than the thought of being dragged back to the Decepticon ship the _Nemesis _for interrogation.

Despite the eerie and somewhat intimidating silence, and lack of reply, the Autobot pressed on. She was fragged anyway; might as well go down with some shreds of dignity remaining.

"Get off," she demanded bluntly, glaring at him in the optics- or where she hoped his optics were anyway- and wriggling for emphasis. He didn't move an inch. Aurora gritted her dentas together in frustration, before trying again. "Look, what if you get off me and go along your merry way, and in return I'll go back to base and pretend like I never saw you? Then you can get whatever you need done without Autobot interference, and I'll, uh, go home in one peice. Deal?"

She was still answered only with silence. Frustration giving way into steadily mounting anger, she scowled, quickly running her optics over her current predicament in search of some way to get out of it. As thoroughly bound as she was, however, that didn't seem likely. Gaze returning to the blank mask that was uncomfortably close to her own faceplate, she found nothing there either, apart from her own enraged reflection.

"What do you want, you malfunctioning miss-clock?" she spat, optics darkening in growing ire. "Huh? Too much of a scaredy-bot to finish what you've started?" She let out a soft growl as it began to become clear that he had no intention of responding. Which was just fan-fragging-tastic for Aurora. Now what was she meant to do? Just hang around there all night, until Soundwave eventually got bored and killed her? No way. Not happening. But apparently silence wasn't the correct course either, for as soon as she stopped talking for too long his grip increased tenfold, and she swore she could hear her armour denting underneath his iron grip. "Fine, fine, fine, fine, _fine. _What do you want?"

That must have been the correct thing to say, as the tentacles hold immediately relaxed; unfortunately, not enough for her to escape, but enough that she was sure she wouldn't lose permanent feeling in certain limbs. There was a metallic hiss, much like air being released, as more tentacles slid out of Soundwave's chassis and weaved there way towards her. Aurora watched them suspiciously, optics narrowed, and twitching in his grasp as one brushed against her ankle.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, feeling her panic levels beginning to rise as a couple of other tentacles followed suit, brushing against her ankles before beginning to slide their way up her legs. She jerked one leg in an attempt to shake them off, but the motion barely even hindered them. It didn't help that she was trying to convince herself that the tentacles that were holding her legs still had totally just _not _spread her legs out wider.

Soundwave still made no move to answer her directly. His optics remained trained on her as she hissed and cursed at the tentacles, jerking in his hold, trying to get free and get the Primus-damned things off of her. One strayed too close to her faceplate, and her head lunged forwards, dentas sinking into it to try and make a point. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to effect him all that much. The other tentacles continued their advances as if one of their partners weren't getting assualted; a partner that was soon released with a surprised hiss as another tentacle brushed against her interface panel.

Her entire systems stalled, spark leaping out of pure fear. Forget just letting him kill her and getting this over with. What kind of 'Con would be that merciful, anyway? Primus no, he was going to end up humiliating and defiling her first, then probably leaving her body somewhere that the Autobots would never find her... or, even worse, somewhere that they would find her and would know the disgusting way in which her last moments had been speant. Or worse still, he wouldn't kill her in the end, and would take her back to the Decepticon ship... Some part of her screamed for her to do anything to get out of there, whilst another part of her boiled over with unadulterated fury at the thought of being taken advantage of.

"Get _off," _she snarled, making a poor attempt to shove him in her restrained state, spark pounding in pure fright as she began to realise just how close to getting raped she may be, "And get those _things _off me as well."

As usual, Soundwave made no move to indicate that he had heard her plea. The tentacles quested onwards; some dipping in and teasing seams she knew they shouldn't be touching, others stroking her thighs and seeking out more sensitive areas, and the rest acting more bold by attacking her interface panel directly.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." she struggled vainly in his hold, her anger giving way to her horror at what she was about to experience... at the hands of Soundwave, no less. "Let me go you sick fragger!"

There was no more hiding the desperation in her voice. She thrashed in his constricting hold, hissing things under her breath, spark racing to unthinkable speeds. Why couldn't she have just stayed put? What Primus-forsaken emotion compelled her to do her patrol properly? Digits curled at an unusual angle as she attempted to flex her wrist and claw at her bonds, but managed to do little more than scrabble uselessly at the wall behind her. Her own frightened expression stared back at her with wide, panicked optics within the reflection of Soundwave's mask, and some distant part of her slowly registered that this was going to go ahead without her say so. Soundwave had her trapped up against the wall, pretty much immobilised, comm. link ineffective, and with no help coming for her. Forgive her if the setting was rather bleak.


	3. Chapter 3

Why was she always the one who found herself in the stupid situations?

Seriously, this never happened to Bluespark, or even Skylight for that matter. No, it was always _Aurora _who found herself in the awkward, humiliating or the downright dangerous situations. _Aurora. _The _least _battle-wizened of them all, but also considered to be one of the more intelligent ones of her group. Could someone tell her how the frag that worked? Was her luck really that shit?

"Soundwave," she tried to reason, fighting to keep her voice calmed and level, "Soundwave, seriously. You don't need to do this. There are easier ways to get information out of me..."

He seemed to think otherwise. She gave an angered hiss as she felt his digits latching onto her interface panel and give it a testing tug, instinctively bucking out to try and get him to take a few steps away from her. Argh. If she survived this ordeal, she was _never_ going out on patrol again! The others could have this happen to _them _for once. It wasn't fair that she was always taking the brunt of all the shit luck and karma that they seemed to accumulate over the years.

She'd have to think fast if she was going to get out of this one.

Venting a deep breath, Aurora forced herself to relax, as hard as that was when she was bound and trying to keep those spidery digits away from her panel. The tension slowly left her cables though, and even though it was painfully obvious her own core temperature wasn't sky-rocketing like it would should she be aroused. she made her best impression that the exact opposite was occuring. Small pants began to leave her lips, and she squirmed in discomfort, as if seeking more friction with the offending appendages that had her bound and at Soundwave's mercy. The display must have been somewhat convincing, as Soundwave's digits stilled, and she could sense an almost questioning air about him. His lack of movement, however, suggested that he was also trying to figure out what caused this sudden change in attitude, and Aurora figured she'd have to distract him fast before he figured it was all just for show.

_"Please _Soundwave," she whined, voice breathy and as needy as she could make it. Her breath hitched as his tentacles constricted for a second in response to her tone, before relaxing again, encouraging her to continue. "Primus, please, my hands Soundwave... please... let me use my hands..."

There was no response at first and, for one terrifying moment, Aurora thought she'd been figured out. Then the tentacles around her wrists retreated, sliding down to other regions of her body, resting on different parts of her anatomy. Soundwave still hadn't moved, and was obviously waiting for a hint as to what she had in mind exactly. Trying to quiet her pounding spark, the Autobot femme cautiously extended one hand towards him, sliding her digits up his forearm and searching his blank faceplate for some kind of indication that the touch was unwelcomed. Much to her surprise and relief, it wasn't, and she reached out with her other hand to cup one side of his face, lingering there for a second before slowly sliding down his neck, discreetly heading towards a cluster of circuits at the base.

The hand on her interface panel retreated, placing it on her hip instead, head bowed slightly in a way that, should that annoying mask not be on, Aurora would've thought he'd had the intention of attempting to kiss her. (_Let him try, _she thought to herself, _I'll tear his fragging glossa out.) _Despite the oddly tender action, the femme wa not to be pertubed, and her hand finally reached the back of his neck... so close to the circuitry she was planning to target. She gave it a couple of affectionate strokes, his head now close enough that she could affectionately nuzzle him with her own... before her digits viciously clawed into aforementioned circuitry, stunning Soundwave and causing him to rear away. Those blasted tentacles still had a hold on her, unfortunately, but Aurora took advantage of his momentary surprise and headbutted him- hard. The Decepticon stumbled back some, hold loosening, and she tore herself out of his grasp, landing with a dull _thunk _of metal as she hit the ground.

For a brief moment, Aurora considered continuing the fight. She considered pounding him to scrap for what he'd just attempted to do; it'd be the least he deserved. afterall, trying to assualt an innocent femme. But Soundwave was already beginning to recover, and she happened to be no fool. She lost last time, and she would lose again... the only difference was this time, there would be no escape. The only logical option was to abandon this fight and hightail it out of there... maybe get far away enough that he was no longer cramming her signal and get a Groundbridge back to base.

So, on wobbly legs, she transformed and did just that, leaving a glowering Soundwave behind in the dust.

* * *

><p>"Are you alright, Aurora?"<p>

The concerned tone, for once, did not belong to her mentor.

Aurora glanced over her shoulder, optics meeting those of the one that approached her. She was well aware that something had been off about her ever since she'd returned, and the others had obviously noticed as well: mainly Ratchet. But it was only logical that one of the others would soon catch on as well... even more logical that the first one to approach her about it, after Ratchet, would be her good companion Bluespark, who Aurora had formerly travelled through galaxies with alongside Skylight and the twins. The femme had refrained from telling any of them what had occured, mostly due to a matter of pride and fear of what their reactions would be. What if they never let her out of the base again? It would get quite boring, stuffed in here with three smelly human brats to keep her company. She did not think so well of the children as Optimus and the others did... what sense was there in keeping them at base? They were probably more in danger with the Autobots than without them.

Speaking of which, she could see one of the little pests trying to "discreetly" listen in on their conversation; that black-haired female one with the pink streak through her hair. Why did she have that anyway? It was unnatural for humans, so what was the point in it? Was it a symbol of status? She'd heard all sorts of stories about the crazy things humans did just to fit in with the group... which was odd, because obviously she didn't fit in well with any other groups if she had to resort to hanging out with giant alien robots. Aurora vaguely wondered how nobody had stepped on one of them yet... whether accidentally or accidentally-on-purpose. Ratchet had let her down in that area.

"Fine," she mumbled, glancing away from Bluespark, gaze fixed back on a blank spot on the opposing wall.

Understandably, Bluespark did not seem to accept or believe this, and with an exasperated sigh she took the seat next to her obviously troubled femme companion. Aurora appreciated the act of concern, but honestly would have rather that Bluespark let it be. As noble as the femme was, she wasn't always so good at handling the emotional side of things. In fact, good ol' 'Spark was a lot better at just beating the crap out of people than sitting around for a spark-to-spark chat. If they wanted support and all that counselling scrap, that was when they normally turned to Lunar, the younger of the twins.

_"Is there a reason you're holding out on us all of a sudden?" _Bluespark asked, reverting to their native tongue.

Aurora vented a sigh through her nose, glancing around the place to check whether or not the other Autobots were in hearing distance. She didn't think that they would be particularly proud, or fond, of what she was about to say. Out of the corner of her optics, she saw the annoying girl strain her head towards them, as if trying to catch a glimpse of their conversation. Anger, annoyance and frustration all stirred within Aurora's spark, as she fought the urge to blast her where she stood. Affirming that none of their Autobot companions would hear her, she leaned closer to Bluespark and dropped her voice, just to be safe. A comical image of them getting kicked out after only their third day in the Autobot base occured to her, but she quickly wiped it aside. Bluespark would not be pleased with her if that happened, all because she failed to keep her temper in check.

_I'm practically the only competent soldier she has. _

It was disappointing, really. Eclipse never took anything seriously, Skylight was so Primus-damned obsessed with her looks sometimes, and Lunar was just... Lunar. Quiet. Easily over-looked. Not leader material at all, but that was just to be expected. The shy ones hardly ever made the best leaders. Though Aurora could hardly act arrogant about her self-proclaimed "competency." She'd almost got raped by a Decepticon, afterall. She could almost feel those disgusting little tentacle things crawling up her legs again... the femme barely suppressed a shudder of revulsion.

_"The insects disgust me," _Aurora responded in a grumbling tone.

_"Aurora!"_

_"What? It's true!"_

_"You heard what Optimus said. We are guests on this planet. And we shall treat them with as much courtesy as you would with any host."_

Aurora made a disgruntled sound under her breath, turning away from Bluespark to be left alone to her brooding. Her memory of Soundwave's tentacles was starting to bring back her earlier feeling of being dirty, and she felt the sudden urge to wash herself. Somewhere... Somehow... Did they even have showers in this place?

"Ratchet, is there anywhere I can wash myself off?" she asked, standing up.

"Oh! Oh! We can wash you!" the black haired girl piped up, jumping up and down excitedly.

Aurora only just managed to keep the grimace off her face, instead managing a mere,

"I'll be... fine."

"Bluespark can show you the way," Ratchet said, his voice calm and gentle.

Aurora didn't need to wonder as to why. He had that fatherly look on his face. A look of concern which was starting to make her worry. The last thing she needed was any of the other Autobots to attempt at prying. Her digust of humans had saved her as far as Bluespark, but she wouldn't dare voice such things around Ratchet. There was something about the way he looked at them. Some sickening respect in his optics that Aurora simply could not understand. How could you have even an ounce for such little... things? All they were were bags of meat and bones. There were a thousand and one ways to kill them, and then some. What were they even doing on Autobot property, anyway? So what. They'd seen a couple of robots. That didn't instantaneously make them enemies with the Decepticons.

Aurora doubted the Decepticons had even taken much notice of the kids until the Autobots kept showing up with them.

As confused as she was, Aurora managed to contain her questions, instead turning to follow Bluespark down the hall.

_Must. Not. Think. About. Tentacles._

* * *

><p>The darkly coloured mech stood on the raised platform, still as death as he oversaw the progress of the Vehicons in the mines. They scuttled about all over the place, harvesting and extracting Energon, doing their best to look busy while Megatron's hound was watching them. They moved quickly to each task, dearly praying to Primus they didn't screw up or do anything else that would give them unwanted attention. Attention only ever meant one thing around a place like this. Everyone had seen what had happened to Starscream after Megatron's return.<p>

It wasn't just that, though. Though he very rarely did anything but stand there and observe, Soundwave's presence seemed to have them on extra edge that day. The vehicons couldn't quite place it, but something seemed... off, about Soundwave. He seemed as stoic and unexpressive as always, yet there seemed to be something bubbling below the surface. Nevertheless, none of them were foolish enough to question it. Soundwave was an emotionless mech, they all knew better than to question that. He was also exceedingly powerful and skilled, and the thought of his fist ramming into their face was not something any one of them found to be particularly desirable.

Yet despite the vehicons impression of Soundwave being a calm and emotionless mech all day everyday, today... well, today he was feeling quite the opposite. An inner rage was coiling inside him, the need to lash out and hit something growing stronger with each passing second. How could he be so foolish? How could he, _Soundwave _of all mechs, do something so... so... utterly stupid? Not only had he meaninglessly sought out to interface with some random _Autobot _femme (and that was the part he kept repeating in his head- _Autobot. _Megatron would have his head if he knew he was fratenising with the enemy!), but he'd also let his guard down, allowing her to get the drop on him! Since when had Soundwave ever been properly defeated in battle? He'd let his emotions get in the way. He'd let them get in the way and screwed everything up! Why hadn't he just executed the Autobot then and there? What idiotic thoughts had been going through his processor?

He knew what it was. This... sickness. It had made him single out the first femme he could just to let off some steam. It meant nothing. Not yet. That part came later. The dreaded part, of course. The part where he purposely found himself searching out for qualities he desired in a mate. The part where he lost pretty much all common sense, and went about hunting for someone to carry on his coding. Then, it wouldn't be just a meaningless frag like that had about to become. He hated to think who he would go after. It didn't help any of the Decepticons that a new femme was on Earth- how many others were there?

His hope of merely getting through this easy was now over. The Autobot Arcee was completely undesirable to any Decepticon. Too many emotions. Too bitchy. Whiny. Sensitive. Not even Knock Out would touch that (Breakdown, however, might be another story...). These new femmes though. Who knew what their personalities would turn out to be like?


End file.
